Chapter 46 By What Right

"Grandma, come and look at the delicious treats I brought you!"

The little fellow placed three boxes of instant noodles on the table, immediately catching the attention of the two elders.

"Oh? My dear grandson, what is this thing? Such vibrant colors!"

"Indeed! We have never laid eyes on anything like this before!"

Empress Ma and Zhu Yuanzhang stared with wonder at the outer packaging of the two cups of instant noodles.

"Which court painter drew this? It's so lifelike, practically identical to the real thing!"

Zhu Yuanzhang turned the package over and over in his hands, unable to stop praising it.

"Painter? This is called printing technology!"

"Printing? Our Great Ming has printing too, but why have I never seen anyone produce something so vivid?"

"Grandpa, this isn't the same thing as the current movable type printing! I'll explain that to you later...!"

The design of the braised beef noodles from later generations could absolutely never be replicated with the extremely backward technology of the present era.

Yet its appearance might just propel technology a massive step forward!

Opening the packaging, the little fellow sprinkled the various seasoning packets onto the noodle cake. "Shunzi, pour the water!"

"Right away!"

Taking his orders, Shunzi poured the boiling water from the kettle evenly over the noodles.

The alluring aroma was instantly unleashed!

Watching the noodle cake absorb the hot water and gradually expand, Zhu Yuanzhang was filled with fascination. "My good grandson, is this the instant noodle you just mentioned?"

"Yes, it is!"

"Well! This is really not what I imagined!"

"Of course not! This was given to me by the white-bearded grandpa, and I couldn't even bear to eat it myself!"

The little fellow deliberately tried to win favor by emphasizing how precious it was.

Hearing that it was a gift from an immortal, the Old Emperor's eyes gleamed with a greenish light.

"Grandpa, instant noodles are delicious, but they don't have the power to cure illnesses, you know!"

Knowing what was running through the Emperor's mind just by looking at his expression, Zhu Xiongying quickly chimed in with a warning.

He wanted to prevent the Emperor from eating his food and then complaining that it had no miraculous healing effects!

With his thoughts seen through, the Old Emperor looked slightly embarrassed. "Haha! I wasn't thinking about that at all! Just being able to eat something from the immortal realm is already quite a blessing!"

Zhu Xiongying picked up the accompanying fork, stirred apart the softened noodle cake, and pushed it in front of the two elders. "Grandpa, Grandma, eat it while it's hot! It won't taste as good once it cools down!"

With that, he picked up his own fork and began to enjoy his share!

The system might only provide this once; every box eaten was truly one box less!

If he didn't have a favor to ask of Old Zhu, he wouldn't have been willing to bring it out!

***

Zhu Yuanzhang and Empress Ma looked at the forks in their hands and exchanged glances.

Having used chopsticks for the better part of their lives, they had never used a fork to eat anything before!

"My good grandson, isn't this the tool farmers use when working in the fields? Can... can this really be used for eating?"

Zhu Yuanzhang's expression showed a trace of disdain as various unflattering mental images crossed his mind.

"Why not?"

Holding his fork, Zhu Xiongying ate with immense relish.

"Uhm... perhaps you should fetch two pairs of chopsticks for the Empress and me instead!"

Finding it truly awkward, Old Zhu instructed Yun Qi to see to it.

After a short moment, the two elders traded their forks for chopsticks.

Only then did smiles return to their faces. "Using the things left behind by our ancestors just feels right in the hand! We really can't get used to these immortal realm gadgets!"

Lifting up a strand of springy noodles, the fragrance drifted into their nostrils, prompting looks of sheer bliss. "Ah! Things from the immortal realm certainly smell amazing!"

Unable to wait any longer, they each took a bite and gave a firm thumbs-up. "Mmm! Delicious! I have never tasted noodles this good before!"

While flour could already be milled in this era, the culinary methods were far too simplistic.

The seasonings available were also pitifully scarce.

There was simply no comparison to the wonders of modern food science!

Empress Ma offered continuous praise as well. "The flavor of these noodles is indeed exceptional, far superior to anything the imperial chefs in the palace can make! Eating them leaves one feeling all warm inside."

"I'm glad you like them, Grandma!"

Zhu Xiongying had practically finished his noodles, even drinking half a cup of the broth.

Delighted by the meal, Old Zhu couldn't help but grumble about his dozen or so sons. "It's still my eldest grandson who knows best! Whenever he has something good to eat, he thinks of us. Unlike those ungrateful wretches, I've never seen any of them bring us anything!"

Seeing that the timing was right, Zhu Xiongying sidled up to Old Zhu and said with an endearingly cute smile, "Grandpa, could you let your grandson take a trip to the Directorate for Palace Works?"

"The Directorate for Palace Works...?"

Hearing this, Old Zhu immediately furrowed his brow. "That place stinks to high heaven, what on earth do you want to go there for?"

"I've grown this big and never been there before, I'm just curious!"

Since he couldn't yet be certain whether Zheng He was currently at the Directorate, he had to use this as an excuse.

"My wonderful grandson, that's where artisans do their heavy lifting and manual labor. It's too dangerous, let's not go there! Another day, Grandpa will take you horse riding instead!"

Old Zhu patiently coaxed the child.

"Grandpa, the winery needs a few trustworthy people, and I plan to select some from the Directorate for Palace Works!"

Since Old Zhu refused, the little fellow had to switch to a slightly more legitimate reason.

Besides, that was genuinely part of what he had in mind.

***

The people at the Directorate for Palace Works not only possessed genuine craftsmanship, but they were also reliable and wouldn't easily leak the brewing techniques!

"Is that so...?"

Old Zhu hesitated.

After a moment, he spoke, "I'll have the Vice Minister of the Directorate pick out a few candidates for you later, so my eldest grandson doesn't need to trouble himself with it!"

"Sigh..."

Failing once again, the little fellow had no choice but to deploy his ultimate trump card.

Sliding his small hand into his tunic and making a slight movement in his sea of consciousness, he retrieved the world map stored within the system space and spread it out across the table. "Grandpa, look at this. What is it?"

Old Zhu and Empress Ma glanced at it, looking somewhat uncertain. "Is this... a map?"

The little fellow nodded. "That's right! This is a map of the entire world!"

"A map of the world...?"

Hearing this, Old Zhu hurriedly rubbed his eyes and searched the map carefully. "Then where is my Great Ming?"

Zhu Xiongying pointed to a small patch on the map. "Right here is the territory of our Great Ming!"

"Impossible! Absolutely impossible! Our Great Ming is vast and expansive; how could it possibly be only this tiny bit?"

Old Zhu firmly refused to believe it.

Empress Ma stared closely at it for a long while before slowly saying, "It may be a bit small, but looking at the shape of this territory, it does seem to match the shape of our Great Ming!"

Hearing these words, Old Zhu rubbed his eyes again for a closer comparison. "It really does look quite similar!"

As the helmsman of Great Ming, Zhu Yuanzhang knew his country's borders like the back of his hand.

Side by side with reality, the Great Ming on this map was merely scaled down, and the geographical distribution of each region was unmistakably that of Great Ming!

"Gasp... Does our Great Ming occupy such a tiny fraction of the world?"

"How big did Grandpa think it was, then...?"

Instead of answering, Zhu Xiongying asked a question in return, and then pointed to the region representing Europe on the map. "The white-bearded grandpa told me that six hundred years from now, the descendants of our Great Ming will have to study their language from a very young age!"

Upon hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang bristled instantly, his beard twitching in indignation. "What? Make our descendants learn their language? On what grounds?"

"Probably because they develop faster and possess superior weaponry!"

The little fellow feigned helplessness, letting out a sigh.

"What? Are the weapons of Great Ming not formidable enough?"

Old Zhu's stubborn and unyielding competitive spirit flared up instantly.